'No guarantee on Glasgow to Edinburgh electric services start date'

The deadline for the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme has been pushed back (Image: PA)

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A rail chief has said he cannot give a "cast-iron guarantee" that full electric services on the main line between Glasgow and Edinburgh will start in December.

Mark Carne, chief executive of Network Rail, said that while he was "very confident" the deadline would be met, there remained a risk it would not.

Carne was giving evidence to Holyrood's Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee after the emergence of another delay to the electrification of the busy line between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley stations.

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The Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) was originally costed at £742 million with the first electric services expected to come on to the route in 2016, a deadline that was later pushed back until July 2017.

Transport minister Humza Yousaf has now said the first services milestone will not be met until October.

The committee heard the latest delay related to the replacement of 300 components that attach the electrical wires to the structure and which had begun to fail, posing a potential safety risk.